Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How the Psalms Point to Jesus | The Writings | Psalm 41

Starting point is 00:00:05 Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. All right, today we're diving into Psalm 41. And before we get into the Psalm itself, I think one thing you might find interesting is that if you turn your Bible to Psalm 41 at the end of it, you're going to see bold letters that say Book 2. So Psalm 41 marks the end of Book 1 and Psalm 42 marks the beginning of Book 2. Now that title, book two, it wasn't added by the people who translated your Bible into English. No, that title was included by the ancient Israelites themselves when they were putting the Psalms together into one scroll.

Starting point is 00:00:47 The Israelites divided the Psalms into five different books. You might remember from our year-long Torah series that the Torah is divided into five books. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. The Torah and the Psalms are both five books. that's not a coincidence. See, the Torah, which just means teaching or instruction, was thought of as the revealed wisdom of God. So the Psalms are the prayers and reflections of the Israelites who are trying to use God's Torah, God's wisdom, God's instruction to navigate their way in a hostile and messy world. So as Psalm 41, we finally reached the last Psalm in Book 1. But before we celebrate, we have to go

Starting point is 00:01:29 backwards a little bit. Actually, we need to take a second and go all the way back to the very first Psalm we looked at at Psalm 1. Do you remember how Psalm 1 starts? Psalm 1 kicks off the book of Psalms by showing us two different types of people, the blessed and the wicked. That's the theme that has shown up a lot in the first 40 chapters of the Psalms and will continue to show up in the rest of the book and the rest of the wisdom literature. See, Psalm 1 teaches us that the blessed person is the one who meditates on God's law, God's Torah, day and night. In other words, in God's eyes, the truly blessed person is the one who relies upon God's wisdom instead of their own. And now, to conclude book one of the Psalms, David tells us something else about this blessed person. So the first book of

Starting point is 00:02:15 Psalms starts with a blessing, and it ends with a blessing. And again, it's all on purpose. It's all by design. So let's hear who Psalm 41 says is the blessed person. We'll start in verse one. Blessed are those who have regard for the weak. The Lord delivers them in times of trouble. The Lord protects and preserves them. They are counted among the blessed in the land. He does not give them over to the desire of their foes. The Lord sustains them on their sickbed and restores them from their bed of illness. I have said, have mercy on me, Lord, heal me, for I have sinned against you. Did you catch who the blessed person was? Blessed are those who have regard for the week. So the first thing Psalm 41 teaches us is that the blessed person not only meditates on God's teaching,

Starting point is 00:03:03 but God's teaching leads them to love their neighbor. In other words, the point of reading our Bible isn't just to read her Bible. It's not just to scratch it off our list of the things we wanted to do that day. No, the goal of reading our Bible is so that God's spirit will shape us into people who love God and love others. We don't just read for information, but for transformation. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians that knowledge puffs up but love builds up when the teacher of the law asked jesus what the greatest commandment was he gives them two commandments you remember it's to love god with all your heart mind soul and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself jesus says that those two commandments are what the whole Torah is trying to teach us so that forces us to ask the question is reading the bible leading you

Starting point is 00:03:51 to love your neighbor as yourself is listening to this podcast leading you to be more great gracious to the people in your life. Maybe you've heard that the greatest distance in the world is the distance between your head and your heart. I'm not sure who first said that, but man, there's a lot of truth in that statement, isn't there? We don't really need to know more of the Bible as much as we need to put into practice the parts of the Bible that we already know. Jesus doesn't just want people who know their Bible. He wants people who live according to the Bible, who don't just know his commands, but keep his commands. Psalm 41, and Jesus agree on another thing. Blessed are those who have regard for the weak.

Starting point is 00:04:29 If you've read other parts of the Bible, you've probably noticed that God has a special place in his heart for the weak, the needy, the poor, the orphan, the widow, the foreigner. It's central to God's identity. He is the God of the weak. Psalm 68.5 says, God is a father to the fatherless and a defender of the widows. God is not drawn to the powerful, the elite, the strong. No, he associates with the lowly, the poor, the needy, and the humble. so much so that Psalm 41 claims that unless you care for the marginalized and the overlooked, you won't be cared for by God. Listen again to verse one, blessed are those who have regard for the week. Why? Well, here's the answer in the second half of the verse, because the Lord delivers them in times of trouble. See, it's good news that God cares for the week because if we're honest, we're all

Starting point is 00:05:19 weak and we're all in need. That's true of all of us every day of our lives, more than we can ever possibly know or imagine, but sometimes we feel or we sense our weakness more than other times. See, everybody comes across hard times in their life. Everyone has sins they struggle with and need forgiveness for. Without God, even the wealthier spiritually poor, without God, even the powerful have no control over their life. Everyone is weak compared to God. Do you recognize your weakness? not do you have weaknesses, but do you recognize them and embrace them and meet God in them? Do your weaknesses drive you to your knees and prayer? It's dangerous to overlook our weaknesses because that may lead us to overlook people who are in need around us.

Starting point is 00:06:07 See, Psalm 41 tells us that David recognized his weaknesses, which is why he's praying that God would heal his sickness. And David has hit a hard time, and he's asking God to save him. Why? Well, he's been kind to others when they were in need, and now he's asking God if he would grant him mercy and grace in his time of need. So the blessed person cares for those in need. But what do the wicked do? Well, we find out in the next few verses. They say this, My enemies say of me in malice, when will he die in his name perish? When one of them comes to see me, he speaks falsely, while his heart gathers slander. Then he goes out and spreads it around. all my enemies whispered together against me they imagined the worst for me saying a vile disease has afflicted him he will never get up from the place where he lies even my close friend someone i trusted who shared my bread has turned against me but may you have mercy on me lord raise me up that i may repay them in these verses we learn that the wicked people are those who mock the needy they don't love their neighbor they ignore their neighbor they don't help the poor they gossip and slander and Instead of being hospitable, they're hostile. See, the wicked are those who don't have eyes to see their own

Starting point is 00:07:22 weaknesses. And their mind, they don't need God's mercy, so they have no reason to extend mercy to other people. Maybe you know what it feels like to be David. Maybe you're in a position where your weaknesses are scoffed at, where your needs are ignored, where you feel like you've been betrayed by those you love. If that's you, I hope you hear what Psalm 41 has to say to you today, because this Psalm shows us that God does care for the weak. God cares for the needy. He rescues the poor. Did you notice what verse 9 said? Even my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has turned on me? On face value, this verse seems like it delves into the deepest realm of darkness, depression and loneliness. Betrayal by a friend, especially a close friend, someone you trusted, betrayal by a spouse or by a co-worker that you depended on?

Starting point is 00:08:14 man, that can lead to depression and loneliness. It's one of the hardest things that we have to deal with in our life. It makes us wonder, is there anyone that we can trust? But even in betrayal, God is with us. Even in betrayal, Jesus understands us. Because this verse in Psalm 41 is pointing us toward Jesus and what he suffered, the betrayal of his own friends, the betrayal of his own disciple. Here's what the Gospel of John says about the Last Supper.

Starting point is 00:08:45 And Jesus says, I am not referring to all of you. I know those who I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the passage of Scripture. He who shared my bread has turned against me. Now, if you're familiar with this story about Jesus, you know that Jesus is referring to Judas, who betrayed him by handing him over to the authorities to be arrested. And to explain Judas's betrayal, Jesus quotes Psalm 41, verse 9,

Starting point is 00:09:09 and says that in himself, this Psalm is fulfilled. See, Jesus isn't just the God who saves the weak. He's also the God who knows what it feels like to be weak. He knows what it feels like to be mocked and rejected. He knows what it feels like to be betrayed by his friends. To lift us out of our darkness, he stepped into darkness. And just like Jesus' death wasn't at the end of the story, so Psalm 41 doesn't end there. We read the last few verses, I encourage you to think, how does this point me to Jesus? Here's what it says. I know you are pleased with me, for my enemy does not triumph over me. Because of my integrity, you uphold me and set me in your presence forever. Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and amen.

Starting point is 00:09:55 What the end of Book 1 of the Psalms shows us is that Jesus is the true blessed person. Jesus loved the Father with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength. He loved his neighbor as himself. Jesus cared for the weak and the needy. Jesus died in the hands of the wicked. The Psalms aren't just the prayers of God's people. They're the prayers that point to Jesus. And because Jesus lived the truly blessed life, his resurrection means new life for us. Did you notice how the Psalm ended with two amends? These amen's don't just conclude Psalm 41, but the whole first book of the Psalms. Amen was the Hebrew word that meant so be it. This meant that God's people ask God to bring their prayer into reality. In the same way,

Starting point is 00:10:39 we join with the psalmist by reading and praying through them just like Jesus did. But we have the privilege of living on the other side of Jesus, where we know that the prayers of God's people were ultimately answered in him. So book one of the Psalms points us to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. And now as his followers, we say our amends as a reminder of what God has already done and what His Spirit continues to do in our lives today. Amen and amen.

Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How the Psalms Point to Jesus | The Writings | Psalm 41

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